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Tuesday, March 20, 2018

The End is Nigh

The end of my Lenten social media fast, that is. I never really made a conscious decision to NOT post here for Lent. The objects of my fast were Facebook and Twitter for the most part. My personal Instagram was part of it, though I kept my business one active for obvious reasons, and after this experiment this is the platform I miss most. I also kept YouTube because I decompress by watching art videos these days.

With the end of Lent nine days away, I have mixed feelings. Some things to celebrate, some progress made, plenty of observations about my own habits and tendencies.

Being away from Facebook was nothing but positive, with the exception of missing some friends' updates. That said, I can log in and creep on you all without getting sucked down the rabbit hole of 24/7 access. I strongly believe the app should stay off my phone. I seem to be able to log in once per day for friend-checking and avoid the rest. For the most part, sharing things I care about on Facebook, like March for Our Lives this weekend, doesn't require me to log in for more than a second or two.

I don't need an all-hours news cycle because it just feeds my anxiety. I've been fine with reading a morning briefing and listening to Pod Save America for some perspective. I do think it would be helpful to subscribe to the Washington Post or New York Times websites for unlimited online reading. With limited access I can't always click through the morning briefing and get the full story which is annoying and half-assed.

Limited social media has helped calm my anxiety. I've used the minutes I would normally spend scrolling in the morning to do meditation via the Headspace app which has been immensly helpful. I use all the other minutes I would've normally spent scrolling to make art. This also helps sooth me.

Overall, I don't think there were any surprises. I knew all of this going into my social media fast, but I wanted to do it, finally, and I have enough perspective to make some tweaks. Facebook, while my biggest nemesis, is the most obvious tool for activism and organizing that I have at my disposal...especially for local/county political action. I'll still be there on FB, but in much smaller amounts.

While I've never done a full social media fast, I have removed FB from my phone. I mostly did it because my old phone had so little space on it, and FB takes up so much. However, when I got my new phone about a month ago, I decided that I still wasn't going to have FB on it because I feel better not being on it all the time just because it was always available to me. I have Twitter and Instagram that I check occasionally and then sign off as soon as Twitter becomes a dumpster fire and Instagram starts showing too many ad-like posts, but for the most part, the only social media app I get on with any regularity are Litsy and Goodreads.

I'm glad the lack of Facebook on your phone is working for you. I'm sticking with it. I've just never fallen in love with Litsy. I feel like if they had a web interface (since I'm generally at my laptop all day), I'd be on it and totally addicted.